May 4 The Tiny World - Quantum Mechanics.

Quantum Mechanics is the branch of physics which deals with the infinately tiny motions of subatomic particles. From the beginning of this blog the primary focus has been on Einstein's Relativity which governs the motions of the massive celestial bodies like galaxies, stars and blackholes.

One of the key principles of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is wave particle duality. This is the concept that matter can act as a wave as opposed to just a single particle in a fixed position. This came to be through the famous double slit experiment in the image below. Light shows as an interference pattern as well as other particles when fired onto a detector.

Credit : cyberphysics

Quantum mechanics can break the rules and present us with some severe dilemmas about our notion of reality. The wave image of a particle gives the probability of its position if it cannot be seen directly. No matter how small a chance of a particle being in a particular place, that chance isn't mathematically zero within the laws of physics. This is called the De Broghlie Wavelength. Proposed by Louis De Broghlie in 1924. This is connected to Max Planck's Constant which connects the amount of energy a photon carries with the frequency of its electromagnetic wave.

Quantum mechanics is a discipline that can give many paradoxes and defy the rules that Einstein himself laid down. From relativistic points of view, nothing can travel faster than light or instantaneously. In the phenomenon of Quantum Tunnelling, a particle can be observed crossing a barrier instantaneously. The is what assists the fuelling of the Sun.

Credit : Physics Stack Exchange

A great question I received last week was the issue why can't the speed of light be described as infinate? The reason for this in reality is that the speed of light/causality is the fastest that information can travel for cause and effect. If the speed of light and causality was infinate then the universe would be an instantaneous here and now. Although Quantum Theory seems to disagree...